Clothes in The Great Outdoors - Topic of the day 5/8/25
From rain and wind to mud and bugs, outside your home are a whole host of things that can wreck your clothes. How do you contend with this - dedicated clothes? Different methods of cleaning/maintenance? Not going outside?
19 Replies
Not dedicated clothes necessarily but like some stuff i definitely wont wear on a hike
Fear of ruining things is generally for weenies. Outdoor stuff is like the other thing i do aside from work
People used to hunt in tweed suits ya know?
I want to wear the clothes i like as much as i can
Having a whole other outside closet is silly. The footwear is the main thing that changes
Yeah...mfad has helped me be less precious about my clothes. I used to treat some clothes as "too nice to wear", which is very silly. If it's nice, PUT IT ON.
Also don't forget that unless you had money back in the day you had something you wore for everything and maybe a suit for church in the west. So with that thought unless its something crazy then just wear it for whatever. If I'm actually backpacking or an actual outdoor adventure than the more technical outdoor oriented stuff is broken out
But at the same time, I'm not going to go trekking in the Alps in my Paraboots.
I love clothes outside
One of my favorite kinds
I posted this inspo thread a while ago
https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1117803378521673768/1354573135969517611
For a casual walk in the forest I don't really mind what I wear. But if I'm doing serious multi day hiking and/or camping in the mountains, I have some dedicated clothes for that yeah. Some of that stuff like merinowool baselayers and 3L hardshells are actually also very convenient to wear regularly, so some have become my "normal clothes"
I do have a weird mental block of clothes being dedicated for specific activities but I also find specialized clothes really interesting and fun!
I’m trying to get over it in various ways but I do in general want to keep certain clothes nicer than others. So my camel hair cardigan I wear in the office isn’t going fishing with me, but the rag wool one is
And it's not so much that I'm scared of ruining good clothes but more that I like the technical aspects of certain clothes
I mostly tend to wear tech blends for travel and outdoors. Beyond that I don't do anything crazy outdoors so that's really the only concession.
Just needs to be something comfy
I have hiking specific clothes for when I do that. I also like very lightweight layers for hiking. If I hike it's for photography and I'm already carrying a heavier pack with my camera stuff. So I don't want layers to weigh much. In the summer, it's normally a patagonia lightweight long sleeve tee with a hoodie to keep the sun off my neck. In the winter I'll bring different layering options. Winter mornings I like a softshell and some type of technical sweater/q zip, since it gets warmer as I hike. If I'm doing an afternoon hike, I'll normally start with that patagonia tshirt and pack a puffy jacket for when the sun starts to go down.
I don't normally think about ruining clothes, I just like the technical materials for performance when moving. Same goes for like golf , tennis and the gym too.
I used to be big on matching your clothes to the activity, but I really don't care anymore lol
I've done easy to moderate hikes around here in jeans and stan smiths
climbing or backpacking are the only times I always wear my techy clothes
I just think cotton is uncomfortable to get sweaty in.
The orslow is for town and country
I have shoes for the greater outdoors, otherwise its all the same stuff
i got some stuff from REI for this
i mean i hike in my kleman padrors fwiw
I have a whole different set of clothing for climbing and hiking, and it's different for each coast. I had the whole "cotton kills" thing drilled into me when I was young, so it's all wool and polys. Most of it is functional/technical, but I love a wool cruiser jacket for a winter afternoon hike.
Something I've enjoyed being into technical stuff for a while is the clothing I've bought for general-purpose wear is also extremely appropriate for outdoor activities, so often me 'dressing up' for hiking etc. is more about intentionally looking slightly more outdoor fashion than making sure I'm covered from a performance perspective
(same jacket in pics 1, 2, and 4. Same pants in pics 3 and 4)